This is the city: Los Angeles, California. I work here. I'm an ex-mayor. Los Angeles is a magnet for people from all over the world. Some of them run for public office. Inevitably some of them stray from the golden rule and rule for those that have the gold. That's when I go to work. My name is Yorty. I'm a dead pol.

Friday, February 24, 2006

Open Thread for Friday

It was an historic day in radio broadcasting, as the Voice of America (VOA) signed on for the first time on this day in 1942. The worldwide, shortwave radio service, a department of the United States Government, continues to beam a variety of programming around the globe under the auspices of the United States Information Agency (USIA).

The VOA transmits from modern studios in Washington, DC and beams much of its programming via satellite to transmitters worldwide. In addition, the VOA maintains huge transmitters in the U.S. and around the world in order to provide distinctly American information, culture and entertainment, in dozens of languages, to every corner of the globe. For years, the tune, Yankee Doodle, has opened each sign-on broadcast.

More than 40 years after the VOA was launched, the USIA started Radio Marti, an immensely powerful radio transmitter tethered from a huge blimp in the Florida Keys. The controversial station broadcast to Cuba, irritating Cuban Premier Fidel Castro enough for him to jam the signals of U.S. broadcasters. The Radio Marti blimp crashed after deflating while airborne a number of years ago. The station returned to the air and has been joined by TV Marti as well.

5 Comments:

Roderick did an incredible fluff piece on Eric Garcetti in the LA Magazine (in fact, I suspect Eric wrote some of it).

It's hillarious that Eric tries to present himself as Mexican (even Roderick calls him on this) and says he learned Spanish from his grandmother. Again, laughable if you here Eric's heavily accented Spanish.

Still, despite all that and his politically calculated navy reserve duty, Eric (and Amy) have shown they are increidbly strategic. In my estimation, they are always thinking 8 years ahead.

Note to Roderick: Sean Burton is Henry Cisneros' son-in-law and is only in affordable housing because that is what his father-in-law told him to do to share in the family wealth.

"In city filings, Villaraigosa reported that his 2001 mayoral campaign paid Akili $2,900, most of it for services as a campaign consultant.

Attorneys for Humphries said Thursday that she had "no role" in any conspiracy with Ludlow to hire campaign workers through the union.

"Everybody in Los Angeles politics knows that the political power at Local 99 was Tom Newbury, the chief executive officer, and we are not surprised that his administrative assistant … would try to make Janett Humphries a scapegoat in this matter," Ricardo A. Torres II and former Los Angeles City Councilman Nick Pacheco, attorneys for Humphries, wrote in a statement."

The noose is tightening. Now we'll get to see who has the character to survive this debacle. I've never met anyone who praised Antonio for his character. Watch him crumble.

ooh, someone finally named another operative. I would say that you are correct that Akili is one of the top field operatives who worked, and ran Martin's campaign. You're leaving several folks out though. Not all were black, or lesbian.